1. Field of the Invention
The present inventive concept relates to an image forming apparatus in which a developer member including a plurality of developers is detachably coupled to a main body.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus, particularly, an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, forms an electrostatic latent image on a surface of a photosensitive member by emitting light modulated to correspond to image information to the photosensitive member, develops the electrostatic latent image into a visible toner image by supplying toner to the electrostatic latent image, and prints an image on a recording medium by transferring and fixing the toner image to the recording medium.
The photosensitive member and the toner may be provided in a cartridge, which is defined as a ‘developer’. Herein, the use of the term ‘developer’ refers to a cartridge in which a photosensitive member and toner are contained. Rollers such as a charging roller and a developing roller are disposed on the developer, and bias voltages are applied to the rollers. An electrical contact member for electrically connecting the rollers to a power supply device disposed in a main body of the image forming apparatus is provided.
In particular, an image forming apparatus designed for a user to more easily attach or detach a developer and repair the developer has recently been developed. In such an image forming apparatus, at least one developer may more easily be attached or detached by mounting the developer on a developer mount member, and pushing the developer mount member into a main body or separating the developer mount member from the main body.
If a developer is directly mounted on a main body without using a developer mount member, it is not difficult to manufacture an electrical contact member for applying a voltage to the developer. However, if a developer is mounted on a developer mount member and the developer mount member is coupled to a main body, an electrical contact member has to be connected to the main body through the developer mount member.
Examples of a method of electrically connecting a developer and a main body (specifically, a power supply device) include a method of connecting a developer and a main body by using an intermediate member and a method of directly connecting a developer and a main body.
A conventional method of connecting a developer and a main body by using an intermediate member has problems in that since the intermediate member is disposed in a direction perpendicular to a direction in which a developer mount member is withdrawn, a contact force is reduced, and since a structure for extricating the intermediate member in order to prevent damage to the intermediate member when the developer mount member is withdrawn or mounted is required, the number of parts is increased.
Also, a conventional method of directly connecting a developer and a main body has the following problems. It is necessary to prevent damage to an output contact member for applying a bias voltage to the developer due to a developer mount member or the developer when the developer mount member is withdrawn or mounted. To this end, since an interlocking member that interlocks with a door portion and extricates the output contact member when the door portion opens is required, many parts such as a link member are required. Also, since a user may be inconvenienced using the door portion because of the link member that interlocks with the door portion, user convenience may be reduced.